Packard heir slams GOP Senate candidate, former Hewlett-Packard chief Fiorina

[IndianaGreen]

Packard heir slams GOP Senate candidate, former Hewlett-Packard chief Fiorina

March 8, 2010 | 2:01 am

Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina touts her business resume, particularly her years as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, as the reason GOP voters should nominate her to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

But this morning, an heir to one of the company’s founders issued a slashing rebuttal, arguing that Fiorina nearly drove the technology firm into the ground.

“I know a little bit about Carly Fiorina, having watched her almost destroy the company my grandfather founded,” wrote Arianna Packard, the granddaughter of David Packard, in a letter posted on www.redstate.com.

Fiorina is in a tough three-way GOP race to take on Sen. Barbara Boxer. Her tenure at Hewlett-Packard was controversial, with Portfolio magazine crowning her one of the 20 worst American chief executives of all time.

Arianna Packard is the daughter of David Woodley Packard, who fought Fiorina when she engineered the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, a decision that partly led to her firing by the board of directors in 2005. She is also a supporter of and donor to one of Fiorina’s rivals, Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

Her letter is a response to one penned by Fiorina backers Sens. James Inhofe, Tom Coburn and Jon Kyl. The three senators wrote, “We are proud to endorse her as a fellow conservative who has real-world business experience and the guts and moxie to take on Barbara Boxer and win. Carly is not a Washington insider. She is a proven business leader who understands the economy and advocates a strong national defense.”

Packard slammed their position, arguing that Fiorina is a failed businesswoman.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/03/packard-heir-slams-gop-senate-candidate-former-hewlettpackard-chief-fiorina.html

[Jennicut]

1. Well, all the Repub infighting can only help Boxer.

Carly Fiorina only does one thing well, making sheep scary.

[IndianaGreen]

2. She was fired from HP

She is a miserable failure.

Carly Fiorina: A Record Of Failure

August 20, 2009 10:27 am ET

Fiorina Fired At Least 18,000 HP Employees

Millionaire Fiorina Called the Outsourcing of American Jobs "Right Shoring." The San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Labor unions have battled 'offshoring,' which Fiorina calls 'right-shoring,' for decades, he said."

Fiorina Defended The Outsourcing Of American Jobs. Investors Business Daily reported, "During their presentation, Barrett and Fiorina had to defend the tech industry for its growing reliance on overseas tech workers. IBM, Intel, Hewlett-Packard and others have moved many jobs offshore, including customer service call center operators and even engineers."

Fiorina Laid Off Nearly 18,000 HP Workers During "Restructuring." The Omaha-World Herald reported, "Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, Calif., had a $ 903 million loss on revenue of $ 56.6 billion for its fiscal year that ended last Oct 31. According to a summary by Hoover's Inc., an Austin, Texas, provider of business information, Hewlett-Packard has undergone extensive restructuring under Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina. The company announced earlier this year that it planned to cut 17,900 people by October because of a weak economy and its merger with Compaq."

Fiorina Suggests Her Biggest Mistake Was Not Firing More People More Quickly. Fortune reported, "Fiorina does not agree, naturally, that there's been a brain drain (at HP). In fact, she believes that one lesson she's learned while running HP is that she should have moved more quickly in ejecting certain people. Smartened up now, she says, 'I would have done them all faster. Every person that I've asked to leave, whether it's been clear publicly or not, I would have done faster.'"

Fiorina: "There Is No Job That Is America's God-Given Right Anymore." The San Francisco Chronicle reported, "Fiorina's statement that 'there is no job that is America's God-given right anymore' triggered particularly strong reaction. The pair spoke in Washington representing the Computer Systems Policy Project, a group of eight chief executives from the nation's top information technology firms."

http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200908200003

[Jennicut]

3. Restructuring is what she called it, huh?

She drove HP into the ground by getting rid of the people that helped make it what it was.

[KingFlorez]

4. She's got a lot of things against her

She wants to present herself as this outsider, but just because she's never been in government doesn't mean she's an outsider. She's part of the problem, CEOs who have grossly mismanaged companies are partly why the economy is so messed up.

[girl gone mad]

5. HP wasn't even the first company she almost drove into the ground.

She's another corporatist sociopath who failed her way up into wealth and power.

[xchrom]

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